Dwyane Wade's questionable World Trade Center reference he gave to Fanhouse briefly set off hyper-sensitivity alarms everywhere, but it wasn't even that awful compared to some of the other ones we've seen recently.

After the quote was sent up to the replay booth for review, it turns out there was a breakdown in the Fanhouse machine which resulted in a transcription error. Here's the less retarded version:

"We're going to be wearing a bullseye. But that's what you play for," Wade said. "We enjoy the bullseye. Plus, there's going to be times when we lose 2-3 games in a row, and it seems like the world has crashed down. You all are going to make it seem like the World Trade is coming down again, but it's not going to be nothing but a couple basketball games.

In an interview yesterday, I attempted to explain how some people may view the Miami Heat losing a few basketball games in a row during the upcoming season. It appears that my reference to the World Trade Center has been either inaccurately reported or taken completely out of context. I was simply trying to say that losing a few basketball games should not be compared to a real catastrophe. While it was certainly not my intention, I sincerely apologize to anyone who found my reference to the World Trade Center to be insensitive or offensive."

There's also an element of truth to his WTC hyperbole, since most sportswriters may trot out the "HEAT DISASTER" stories early on if the Three-Headed South Beach Partysaurus seems incapable of winning 75 games this season. Granted, it won't have the same impact as "A New Day Of Infamy" or something similar, but we all know how passionate those recently converted Miami Heat fans can be, so a two-game losing streak could be considered a large-scale tragedy. And actually, in terms of inappropriate 9/11 references, Wade's isn't even the worst in recent sports-related history. Remember these:

* Rick Pitino: Knee-deep in the Karen Sypher mud pit, Pitino held a press conference where he invoked 9/11 as a way to compare the tremendous support NYC received after the Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists to the type of support he'd received from the Louisville community after they found out he humped a crazy lady on the floor of a restaurant. And Pitino brought up 9/11 not once during the Sypher scandal, but twice.

Rick Pitino's brother-in-law was a trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, and he died on 9/11 along with …
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* Nick Saban: Louisiana-Monroe rattled Tuscaloosa by terrorizing the Crimson Tide in a shocking upset in 2007 which caused this jerk-offery: "Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event," Saban said during the opening remarks of his weekly news conference. "It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event."

* Chad Ochocinco: Distraught over the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, Ocho Cinco said this: "Okay, first Mrs. Fawcett, now Mr. Jackson, please tell me this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11."